


The Last Of The Real Ones

by a_little_hope (orphan_account)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Awkward Boners, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Bars and Pubs, Bartenders, Dragon BB-8, Dragon Hunter Kylo Ren, Dragon Millicent, Dragonkeeper AU, Dragons, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn, Pay no attention to the last, Rey Kenobi, Tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:45:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/a_little_hope
Summary: Rey is a dragonkeeper and runs the Creature Menagerie in Takodana, where dragon hunting is illegal.Kylo is a former dragon hunter who has been put out of work due to injury, who lies to get a job that'll mean he can get out of the slummy bars and pubs.





	1. Girl With A White Dress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is for hothmess, go follow her on tumblr, she's an angel. Also leave her an anon telling her that she's the best person ever, because she is and she deserves nice things always.

Rey often said that it took a special kind of person to take care of dragons. _The non-flammable kind,_ specifically. But those came far and few between and usually already had jobs with other dragon keepers. The other dragonkeepers seemed to know how to keep their inflammable humans with them, but Rey seemed to keep losing them. The most recent one she had ran away in the night after an egg hatched, spewing a hot substance everywhere that was impossible to get out of his clothes to say the very least.

Finn had laughed at him as he ran away, “Coward.” He had hissed. “There goes another one,” The fae had told Rey.

“What happened to this one?”

“First egg hatched on him, I guess.”

“That’s the sixth one this month.” She sighed, bringing some feed to the small reptilian creature that was now making a nest in the charred grass. It lapped up the small cut of cooked meat from her hand, and then crawled into it.  “Oh, you are a cute one. Aren’t you?” The dragon let out a cute little shriek that was almost reminiscent of a bird chirping.

“Can I name it?” Finn had jumped off of the tree branch he’d been sitting on above her shop.

“Sure,” She told him. The small green dragon was a _verite vetome,_ essentially a garden snake, but friendlier, more useful. She usually sold them to farmers for their aura of plentifulness when they grew to just the right size. “It’s a boy,” They were also the only kind of dragons who considered the fae friends. It jumped from Rey’s palm to Finn’s, it’s small tongue licking his hand.

“Can I name it Sprig?”

Rey laughed at the fae’s enthusiasm. “Yes, you can name it Sprig.”

“I love him. He’s so cute.” He wasn’t wrong, _verite vetome_ were naturally an attractive species, and they bonded with fae rather quick, as this one was doing with Finn. Rey knew what was coming next. “Can I keep him?” She knew that Finn had wanted a dragon for a while. He’d always loved to watch Rey take care of them from outside the shop, but had never been able to go in due to the fact that their species had never gotten along. The dragon keeper couldn’t say no to him.

“After one week inside the nursery, yes. You can keep him.” Finn gave Sprig back to Rey, giving her a hug as the small dragon scaled her arm and latched itself onto her dress. She brought the dragon back into the shop, setting it amongst the other babies in the back. The Menagerie that she handled was large and vast, covering around a hundred square feet of land, and that wasn’t including the habitats that she kept intact too. Finn and Poe helped with the habitats, but she needed help with dragons. Rey sighed, wondering what she could do to keep an assistant with her for more than a few weeks. The dragons, seeming to sense her agitation, chirped and purred. She smiled. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” She told them.

She closed the door to the nursery and locked it, heading down the hallway to her house, which was locked away behind a series of doors and hallways behind her shop. She was met by BB, a small white dragon that she’d had since she was about eight years old, who nuzzled her hand as she walked down the hallway. “Hey girl,” She said.  “What’s up?”

Her dragons had almost become her friends in a way. She grew up around them, and they were naturally drawn to her for reasons she’d never been able to explain. It did leave her lonely in a way. It had been a while since she had had much human contact. She had Finn, and her customers, but not much else. BB always seemed to cheer her up though, and that was fine.

That was all fine.

It still left something to be desired, another friend, maybe a friend that she could find in her next assistant.

 

* * *

 

Kylo Ren had been stuck in the taverns for a while. Day in, day out, they stayed the same in the taverns. Everything was a blur, muddied by alcohol and depression. It had been nearly a year since Kylo had been able to work anywhere. _There is no work for a one handed former dragon hunter._

Today, he sat in the back of the tavern, unnoticed as usual. He watched the people silently, drinking his beer. Something about today was different than the others. It was raining outside as usual, dismal people, dismal everything. Until a girl walked in. She wore a white dress and sandals, and despite the harsh rain, her clothes were completely dry. She went straight to the bar tender. Kylo couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but the bartender pointed in Kylo’s direction. The girl practically apparated in front of him. “I hear you need a job,” Kylo jumped.

“You’re aggressively cheery,” Was the first thing that came to mind.

“Yes, I’ve been told that a lot.” She giggled. “My name’s Rey Kenobi and I own the Menagerie at the base of the mountain.” _The menagerie.  Wasn’t that the home of the Takodana’s dragon keeper?_ “I’m the local dragon keeper,” Of course it was. Had the bartender neglected to tell her who he was? “And I’m desperately in need of an assistant, now tell me have you ever spontaneously combusted?” He didn’t know how to get out of this situation.

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t get much use out of me,” He tells her, “I lost my hand a while ago when I was attacked by a group of marauders.” It’s only a half-lie. He put his wooden hand on the table, so it was easier to see. She looked at it unphased, “Do your legs work?”

“Yes,”

“Does your other hand work-”

“Yes but-”

“I can pay you, give you room and board, food, and accommodate any other needs you may have.” 

She spoke very fast, possibly in hopes as to not lose him. “Please consider the offer,” She really was desperate.

“I guess,” Kylo sighed. He really didn't like the idea of working with the beasts that were the reason he lost his hand, but what other chance did he have? He was starting to hate this place and resent everyone in it, he might go crazy if he stayed in here any longer. The man watched her eyes light up. “When do I start?”

“Really?"

“Really,” He said. Secretly, Kylo was dreading this, but he needed to eat somehow. 

“Tomorrow then, enough time for you to gather your things.” She said. “I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Kylo Ren.”

“How do you know-” Magic. Magic was obviously the answer. “When will you come?”

“Oh, yes. I must tell you the time, sorry I'm still not good at doing these things.” Rey laughed. 

“Exactly at noon, tomorrow. I'll teach you all the things you need to do then, oh this should be great.” Before Kylo could ask her anything else, she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol this is a the only fluffy fic you will ever catch me writing ever. Rey should really check people's credentials.


	2. Poppy Seeds and Sourdough Bread

Rey had traveled back to her Menagerie by nightfall. It had been a while since she had gone outside her vast territory and she'd been eager to do so, but the journey had worn her out beyond belief. She went back into the Menagerie, closing the door behind her and locking it. The dragons always changed their demeanors when she was in the room with them. It was like there was some sort of calming aura around her, making the dragon’s settle down in a matter of seconds.

Rey walked into the nursery, checking up on the four dragons that had just been born this week. The first week in a dragon’s lifespan is the most important. If they were not fed and sheltered properly within their first week, it could lead to behavioral and physical problems later in life. Rey wanted to make sure no dragon had to suffer through these problems, so the little ones always received care first and foremost. The eldest dragons didn’t mind, they could feed themselves and when the younger were old enough, it would mean tolerable playmates.

The _verite vetome_ was the first one who got her attention. It’s small nest was the closest to the door, and Sprig was chirping the loudest. Rey stuck out her finger, letting the little green creature lick it with it’s rough tongue. It was the way most _verite vetome’s_ bonded with people. Rey picked up it’s feed bucket, sprinkling some sage and charred meat into it’s nest. It chirped again, and she giggled. Putting down the feed bucket and moving to the next nest.  

The next dragon was actually the oldest one in the nursery, going on six days old. She was an _ardenti daemonium,_ which was one of the more dangerous dragons that Rey owned. Her nest was entirely made of phoenix feathers, which were too hot for the normal human to touch. Rey tossed a larger chunk of raw meat into the nest, letting the dragon cook her own food and begin to eat it. “Good girl,” Next were two _moon’s lynxs_ that were already inseparable at four days old.

She put sage and meat wrapped in rose petals in their nest, and they ate it up eagerly. “Good night little ones,” She whispered. All the baby dragons were beginning to  fall asleep, and Rey pinched the candle lights to let them fall asleep.

“You got a new assistant didn’t you?” Rey jumped when she heard Poe.

“Gods, you scared me.” No one knew exactly what Poe was, neither did Poe, but when Rey had settled down in the mountain base, she had found Poe. who had recently escaped enslavement from a group of marauders who took advantage of him for his teleportation abilities. She didn’t have the heart to not house him in her property. “Where have you been? It’s been eons since I saw you.”

“Traveling,” He shrugged. “Was stopping by to see if you needed anything.”

“Yes, I actually have a list, but we can talk about that later. You need sleep.” He sighed, hopping off of her front desk and walking back to the guest bedroom. “Poe?”

“Yes?”

“It’s great that you’re here. You should stay longer next time. Finn misses you.”

* * *

 

Kylo didn’t know what he had gotten himself into when he had accepted that job from the dragon keeper. He spent the whole night internally freaking out. Trying to figure out what he was going to do or if he could possibly get out of it.

Ultimately, he realised that despite his past, he would much prefer a job working with dragons than staying here. Rey, despite having an annoyingly cheery disposition and an air of naivete about her, was bound to be a more generous employer than Snoke and his underground of dragon hunters.

So, he packed his small amount of possessions and set out to meet Rey. She was exactly on time, off buying bread from the baker next door, Kylo looked at the greenish black dragon that stood outside of the tavern, waiting loyally for it's owner. When Rey saw him, her eyes practically lit up.

“Oh good, you're ready. Sorry, I was just buying some things for dinner later in the week.” The dragon had a large saddle on it with a vast array of different pockets and buckles. So many that Kylo couldn't begin to count them all. Rey slid the bread into a pocket and closed it. “You may be nervous, but don't worry, she won't hurt you. This is Jyn.” _As in Jyn Erso? The dragonkeeper that had been the reason most dragon hunters were not left on this Earth._ “She's very fierce when she has to be and the fastest traveler I have,”

The girl mounted the dragon, holding her hand out for Kylo to grab. He didn't see exactly how he was going to hold on, considering the one hand, but he took it anyways, watching Rey hand him a large leather strap that was attached to the dragon. “Keep your legs on either side of the saddle, wrap your hand around that if you really get nauseous at extreme heights.”

Before Kylo had time to protest, the dragon took off, zipping through the sky at extreme speed. The man kept wondering how much he was going to regret this when they finally landed. 

It was over sooner than he thought it would be, and they were at the base of the mountain, right outside a stone arch that said _Kenobi’s Creature Menagerie_ on it in gold letters. The two of them got off the dragon. When Kylo hit the ground, his knees wobbled and he fell over. Rey giggled. “You haven’t ridden a _moon’s lyncs_  before have you?”

“No,” He admitted, trying his best to save his dignity and not throw up.

“Don’t worry, that happens to everyone on their first ride.” The girl appeared in front of him out of nowhere with a canteen in her hand, she helped him up and unscrewed the cap for him before handing the canteen over. “Drink, you should be fine afterwards.” She walked back over to her dragon, taking out the bread she had bought from the bakery earlier and putting it in her own leather bag. “Are you fine to walk now?” Kylo nodded, still drinking water from the canteen.

“Good,” The dragon took off, and Kylo could feel himself relaxing a little bit as they began walking up the path. It was quite beautiful outside. The path was lined with various flowers including poppies. Those had been his mother’s favorite.

“It’s beautiful out here.” the former dragon hunter didn’t know when he had last seen flowers in full bloom. Most every day he was met with rain and misery and mud and not much else.

“Thank you, I try and maintain the best habitat for my creatures, and in return they tend to emit more positive aura of magic that help keep everything so pretty.” Everything was beautiful here. The sun was shining down on the both of them, but it’s warmth wasn’t so bad that Kylo would’ve found it annoying. It was a pleasant change. “You seem to quite like it out here.” Kylo found her staring at him, examining his expression. “I take it staying in the taverns meant you never got to see the countryside so often.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Well if you see some flowers you like, you can take them. Poppies are my favorite. There such a rare sight in some places.” 

One thing that Kylo had learned about her was that her attention seemed to be easily caught by a variety of different things, which made her distractible to say the least. But there was intention of ill will. She didn’t know what to do with Kylo by her side, so for most of the walk up to the Menagerie, she was quiet, watching him walk up the hill right beside her, every once and a while she would bend over, look into the flowers and point at the small fae creature that danced about the flowers, giving them little bits of other treats that she kept with her.

When they finally reached the Menagerie, Kylo was surprised by it’s size. It was inside of a tree of impossibly large size, twisting up and up and up past Kylo’s line of vision. It’s deep purple bark was an almost impossible hue for a real tree to be, but Kylo didn’t ask her why it was that way, ultimately dismissing it to some sort of spell that made the bark fireproof. “Are you tired? Because if you are we can begin our tour and your training tomorrow, if not we can get the tour out of the way. Whichever you prefer though.” She set down her bread on a desk where a variety of potions and herbs lay on the shelves. Everything from care kits for a variety of different creatures to potions for the owner’s own use lined the shelves on the wall behind her.

He’d never been in a place so _magical_ before. It’s grandiose yet cosy look made him a bit nervous. He didn’t think that this is what the place of a dragon keeper would look like. Perhaps he imagined something more fierce and barbarian like, but he didn’t know why, Rey was neither of those things. 

“Uh, I think I’m okay for right now.” There was still daylight outside, and despite Kylo not being able to process everything because it was happening so quickly, he was still overly curious and wanted to see more.

“Great!” It seemed like Rey was happy to hear that too. Kylo thought that maybe the girl just wanted to someone to talk to, which was sad, considering she was a rather cheery girl who could’ve made friends rather easily if  she had been down in the city. “We’ll just go along with a tour right now and then I’ll make dinner. Does that seem alright?”

“Uh, yeah-”

“Good, good, great. That’s perfect. That’s great.”

* * *

 

Rey grabbed the man by his good hand and lead him to the nursery first, “This is a place you probably may be a lot. It’s the easiest place to be. These are where I keep my newborns. They stay in here for a week before I move them out onto other places on the land where the more motherly dragons lay, teach them how to hunt for their own food, ecetera, ecetera.” She opened the nursery and let him step in to take a look at the sleeping babies. He stood there for a minute, listening to them snore quietly before walking out with her again.

She closed the door and locked it, gesturing to the wide variety of potions, spells, herbs, and books that she kept in the large main room. “This has anything you need to know on creature care. Many of these things are for sale for anyone who comes along wanting a creature. If you ever need help with that just ask me.”

Then they headed into the back, where Rey kept a variety of eggs she had found in their proper nests to keep them properly incubated. “These dragons were abandoned by their mothers,” 

She gestured to the eggs which scaled up to the ceiling. “These are all the ones that like light, some eggs are kept in a darker place below the ground before they hatch, and those are usually the non-fire breathing dragons.” 

“Makes sense,” Was all he said. 

“Yes, now… come with me…” She couldn’t stop herself from being rather excited to have someone to show things to. Although Kylo seemed rather stoic as she showed him about the place he never really reacted negatively to anything she showed. In fact, he seemed interested when she went off on tangents about dragons and everything that they could do and the vast variety of different species there were, and when he asked how many dragons she had and she said, “Around eight hundred born dragons, we have another twelve hundred are unborn at the moment. Most of the dragons are for sale, but I only find the best homes for them possible.” He’d said that she seemed like the kind of person who would find the best home for her creatures. 

She didn’t know if she’d ever heard a sweeter compliment in her life, she definitely hadn’t heard a lot of compliments to be fair though. 

“If you mind me asking, how big is this place?” 

“Just the Menagerie or the land I own as well?”

“The Menagerie,” 

“I don’t know… it’s kind of infinitely expanding always, some parts stay the same but sometimes I wake and find a new room or whatever which is great when I need more sleeping room for some of my… more fragile dragons.” This seemed to confuse him and Rey had to remind herself that not everyone was used to magic like this. “My lands are very big too, they have to be to be able to carry eight hundred dragons, which is why I obviously need an assistant.” 

“Yes, no kidding.” 

“We don’t have enough time to go visit all my lands, we’ll do that tomorrow. So let me show you your room,” She had showed him where her kitchen and pantry was, he could get food whenever he wished, and she had a bath too. “There’s a furnace to the right, and the well is just a few yards away so if you wish to bathe you can bathe in here.” She lead him to the room. It was more vast and wide than the taverns, she knew that. But she didn’t expect Kylo’s reaction. She could see the man’s eyes widen, looking at the large book cases with multiple stories that Rey fancied lining them and a king size bed with white cotton sheets pristinely folded and tucked in each corner. 

She had quickly fixed the dresser and a few other things so he could open them easier. He set his bag down and looked around. There was a small fireplace crackling, warming the room so it was comfortable. There were several chairs and a basket of fruit that Rey had promptly fixed up for him before she had come to pick him up. “Is it to your liking?” Kylo was silent for a minute, and Rey watched him turn a shade of pink. He closed his eyes and bit his lip. 

“Yes, this is… amazing.”

“Good.” She said. “This is yours for as long as you’re here.” It broke her heart a little bit to think that this man had not had such a place to live in before. “I’m going to go make dinner okay? It’ll be pasta with some tomato sauce and sourdough bread on the side. It’ll take a while, but you’re free to join me if you wish.” 

He was silent for a minute, before saying, “Yeah, just tell me when you’re done.” 

“Awesome.” She tried to keep herself from smiling to much, “See you in about an hour then.” 

 


	3. Training Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A story, and some very arduous work.

Kylo had gone to bed full for the first time in what seemed like forever. The bed that Rey had provided was comfortable, and he didn’t have an ache in his shoulder like he usually did when he sat on his straw cot in the tavern. Rey woke him up early, but he was okay with that. “Hi, I hope you slept well. Are you ready?” Her wavy hair and deep hazel eyes peered out from behind the door.

“Huh?” He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“For training, silly.”

“Oh yeah, that, give me a second.”

“Great!” Rey closed his door and Kylo was left to wonder what magical force gave this girl so much energy, because her ability to get up at the crack of dawn unaffected was beyond him. It took Kylo a few minutes to get dressed. It always frustrated him that he took so long to do such a menial task nowadays.

When he was done, Rey was waiting outside his room with a metal cup of coffee in her hands. She gave it to Kylo, who took a sip of the black liquid and started coughing.  “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Just thought you might need a pick-me-up.” Rey winced as he coughed, placing her hand on his back. Slowly, he recovered. It was definitely one hell of a pick me up.

“I’m fine, thanks.” He got back up, his brain felt like it had just been very rudely awakened.

“Good,” She says, she started to pull him along again. Kylo thought she may have been one of the most pushy girls she met. Well, he hadn’t met many girls in the first place. “Okay, so I won’t try to overwhelm you on the first day. I’ve scared off a lot of people like that.” They started walking down the hallway when a small white and orange dragon came barreling down the hallway, licking Rey’s hand almost like a dog would. “BB!” She squealed. The girl took a second to pay attention to her dragon, scratching it behind it’s ears and kissing it on the top of it’s head. “Okay, I gotta go.” The dragon slinked away and Kylo and Rey resumed their business. Kylo knew he should try to attempt some sort of small talk, she shouldn’t have to be the one completely holding up the conversation, but he didn’t know what to say.

“So…”

“So?”

“How did you become a dragon keeper?” That may have been a personal question, but he was genuinely curious. All his life he had been told that dragon keepers were wretched barbarians, cruel people unworthy of life. How easily this girl had changed his point of view.

“That’s a very long story,” She said. “Really long, it may bore you to death.” They walked back into the shop, and Rey rolled out some mats, before opening the door and the sign that said _Open._ “But if you wish, I can tell it to you as we work.” He nodded, and she pulled up a box of different herbs from one of the shelves. “Okay, so the easiest thing first. Sorting herbs in the morning. Sometimes pixies get into the shop and make a mess of the herbs so they can make their foods. I don’t really mind, but they don’t know how to clean up and I like things just so for the customers.” She pointed to each box. “Sage looks like big green leaves,” She pulled a bundle of sprigs and put it into the correct box. “I’m sure you know what cinnamon looks like. Ferryfig root, parsley, ground manchette. It’s pretty self explanatory and only takes about five minutes in the morning.”

Kylo nodded, helping her finish the box before they put it back and headed outside. “So are you going to tell me that story?”

“Yes, sorry, yes. I’ll tell you it as we walk.”

* * *

 

Rey hadn’t expected him to ask such a thing. Kylo Ren seemed like the kind of man that didn’t pry, who didn’t ask questions, she wrote it off as him just being curious. They started walking their way to the fields, where most of her dragons roamed. “That story starts when I was born,” She said. “I was born sick and weak compared to my brothers and sisters, so much so that I was abandoned in those very woods as a child.” Her attention span was caught off guard by the cool wind that cut through the flowers and the grass. She shivered, kept walking down the path with Kylo following close behind her. “All I remember was crying, crying so much that I felt like I was going to scream, then orange and white and two big eyes.”

“BB?”

“Yes, BB had found me. You see, she was also the runt of her family, abandoned and alone. She saw me crying, and I have a feeling that made her feel less scared than she had been before. She sat down around me, keeping me warm. She cried until an old warlock came out from his cave, and found the two of us.” Rey could see a _verite vetome_ slithering through the grass, trying to capture and eat the pixies in the grass.

“The warlock raised you?”

“While he could,” She said. The green dragon stopped when it saw her, a guilty grin on it’s face and a wing hanging out the side of it’s mouth. “Drop it,” She demanded. The dragon listened, and Rey got closer. “Come here, Kylo.” He followed. The _verite vetome’s_ often had plants that grew on it’s back, good for spells and food, the _vetome_ sat obediently as Rey began plucking plants from the creature’s back.

“Wouldn’t that hurt it?”

“No,” She said. “Come on, come here. Look.” She gently plucked a variety of plants from the dragon’s back. “It only hurts them if you don’t harvest the plants.” She put a rather juicy looking persimmon in one of the pockets of her apron. The young dragon had about five of them on her back, and she giggled as they picked them off of her. “So those are edible,” Rey nodded.

“Have you ever had a persimmon before?”

“No,”

“Kylo!” Rey was shocked.

“What?”

“You’re missing out.” She said. Then she waited expectantly, “Eat it, now.” He laughed, and then when Kylo realized that she was serious, he peeled it and ate it gingerly, his face practically melted as he tasted it. “Like it?”

“Yes,” He nodded, still devouring the thing. “Holy-”

* * *

 

Kylo had never really felt such a need for colorful fruits or poppies or airy meadows. He was a hunter, they were never supposed to savor nature. Rey hadn’t lied when she said that he had been missing out. She giggled when he ate the persimmon, asking him if it was his favorite fruit now.

He said yes and they talked about all the different species of dragons and the best ways to feed them and breed them. He forgot to ask her about the end of her tale. Rey led him to a lake a long ways away from the Menagerie. “Here are where the water dragons live,” She pointed out on the water but Kylo didn’t see any movement. He waited, squinting into the cool white mist that rose off 0f the lake.

That’s when he saw it, two big, green eyes and murky brown scales rose out of the water for just a split second as it passed by them in a flash. “They don’t need feeding often so I come out here once a week with my scraps of meat and fish and give it them,”

“There’s more?”

“Yes,” She said. “At the very bottom, there’s a white one. She doesn’t like to come up for much, she’s quite shy.”

“What’s her name?”

“I call her Vivus, I don’t actually know her species, there’s no other dragon like her.” _Vivus meant life._ “She has healing properties, when she comes to the surface, she secretes poppy milk, which can be used to heal almost any fever in dragons or humans. She’s quite beautiful too, but like I said, she’s shy. She only comes up from the surface at least once a month.” They wandered around a bit of her property more until Kylo began to get tired, it had been a while since he’d traveled such a distance in a short amount of time.

Rey said something about lunch and they headed back up to the Menagerie. She told Kylo to go into the back. “There’s some peppered chicken and potatoes sitting there on the table for you.” Tossing a persimmon in his direction as he walked. Surprisingly enough he caught it.

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine for the moment. Don’t worry.” Kylo nodded and let her be.

* * *

 

Rey could always sense when there was a customer that was about to come into her shop. This time it was a young girl, a floral wreath in her hair, and a small basket in her hands. “Hello,” Rey said.

“Hi,” The girl seemed shy, something Rey could relate to dearly. “I'm here for a creature,” She said. “I'm afraid I do not have much at the time, though I have a farm and I can give you food.” Rey nodded.

“Would you say you have enough to feed a creature as well as you?”

“I guess it depends on the creature,” She admitted. Rey nodded, already thinking of what might suit her best.

“And what do you most need in them? Someone to work in the fields, a traveler who can run errands for you or-”

“-a friend.” Rey could feel her heart break a little more at that sentence.

“Okay,” She said. “Okay, and does size matter to you? Do you want something you can keep in your pocket, something about the size of a hound, or something bigger than that?”

“Something that can fit in my pocket or the size of a hound sounds the easiest to feed,” Now Rey had an idea. “I don’t need anything hostile either, there’s no crime where I live so I have no need to defend myself.” Rey beckoned the girl to follow her outside.

“Watch,” She put her fingers to her lips, a sharp whistle escaping her mouth. A small, fluffy creature burrowed through the grass, zipping up to their feet. It looked up at the both of them with big blue eyes.

“It’s so cute!” The girl squeaks. The white fluffy creature purrs at the acknowledgement, rubbing against the girl’s leg. She giggled.

“It’s called a _floffin_ ,” She said. “They’re rather easy to feed, just a small sprig of leaves and something sweet should fill it up for the rest of the day. They’re ten silver pieces.” Technically, they were supposed to be twenty five, but the girl had given her a lovely basket of vegetables, so Rey dropped the price. The girl gave her the ten, giggling as the _floffin_ scuttled up her leg and onto her shoulder.

“Thank you, Miss.” The girl said. “May luck find you always,” With that she left, giggling with her new friend at her side.

* * *

 

For the rest of the day, Rey worked him harder than expected. She had him feed all the babies, dust all the shelves, and bathe two dragons as well. Bathing a dragon - especially an adolescent- meant catching them first. Something Kylo was not good at. One of the dragons tried to spit fire at him, which Rey promptly scolded. Still, it left him remembering those times that dragons were in fact nasty creatures to him. He tried his best to pretend he didn’t mind it, but he guessed it didn’t matter, because he had a nightmare about it anyways.

Rey had knocked on his door and woken him up from it. “Hey, are you okay?” Her voice seemed smaller when she was worried. Still, it was comforting.

“Yeah, I think.” Kylo said. He was still breathing fairly heavy. There was a knot in his shoulder that was rather painful.

“Is it okay if I come in?”

“Huh?” He didn’t have his wooden hand  on (or a shirt for that matter, but he was more worried about the first).

“Is it okay if I come in? I have something that may help with night terrors.” She was already opening the door, slowly. Kylo threw a blanket over himself, slightly embarrassed, but trying to hide it. Rey’s hair was down, curling down her back neatly, the light from the fireplace made her look like she was glowing. She held a small bottle of a silvery looking liquid in her hand. “I could hear you screaming,”

“Did I wake you up?”

“I’m a light sleeper,” She dismissed the question, uncorking the bottle. “Drink this,” She said. “It should ease your muscles, help you relax, get rid of those dreams.” He did as she asked of him. The silvery liquid tasted almost sickly sweet, like a caramel pastry.

“Thanks,” He could feel his heart relax a little. She smiled, still sitting at the side of his bed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Part of Kylo wanted to laugh, he didn’t know why she cared about him at all. All he knew was that she cared too much. Then it hit Kylo. She had no one to talk to. She was alone, like him. Perhaps she had night terrors too, and never had someone to talk to when she was scared.

“No,” He said. “Something else would be better…” That’s when he remembered her story. “You never finished your story, about how you became a dragon keeper.” Her eyes widened for a second, but then she nodded.

“Yes, I never did. Where did I leave off?”

“The warlock,”

“Yes, the warlock. His name was Obi-Wan Kenobi,” _What? There was no way,_ “I think he may have been the kindest person I ever met. He took me in… once he told me that he thought I’d die within a week, and it broke his heart because he hated seeing children in pain, so he took me and BB in, he raised me until I  was about six. He was about a thousand years old by then, and fell ill. I guess it was just his time, but I was left alone again and I was scared. I decided to look for other creatures without a home, or who felt rejected and needed love, I traveled around the world for about fifteen years, just trying to find whoever needed help, and I brought them here, to a place where I could call home… that’s basically it.” Rey had been raised by a famous warlock. Of course she had.

“Wow. That’s… really sad.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad. I’m sure you and others have had it worse. I’ve honestly been lucky to never lose a limb and be fed.” She tried to dismiss it. “Sorry to dampen the mood, I should go. I’m keeping you from sleep.”

“No, um, it’s nice… just talking. I don’t get to do that a lot.” She smiled again, happy that she had a reason to stay.

“Okay,” She said. “I’ll stay for a little longer. Perhaps... I can tell you another story."

He feels himself smiling, even though he doesn't know why. "I'd like that."


	4. The Observatory

When Kylo woke up, there was a buttered pastry, a cut up persimmon, and a cut up honeycrisp apple waiting for him at his bedside table along with a list. In pretty script, it said, _Dear Kylo, sorry I would have woken you up myself, but I am dealing with an abundance of customers and did not have the chance to come back up here. I hope you had a good night’s rest. After you eat I’m going to need you to clean the nursery, organize the shelves out in the main shop, and give the verite vetome in the nursery to Finn outside, he’s been waiting for it very patiently and I think it would just make his day. Oh, also I already retrieved water from the well for you to wash the floor in the nursery, it’s already waiting for you. Thank you, Rey._ Kylo smiled, hurriedly getting dressed and scarfing down his breakfast. He briefly walked by the shop to see Rey dealing with a very long line of customers. “Oh, hey. Kylo.”

“Do you need help?”

“No, if you could just do the things on the note I gave you that would be nice.” She turned back to her customer and he shrugged, reckoning that if Rey really said she had it under control, she had it under control. Once he was in the nursery, all of the dragons started purring, like they were waiting for attention from someone. He didn’t really know what to do, he wasn’t great at giving anyone affection, so he just ignored them. Kylo focused more on cleaning, which was one thing he discovered that he was surprisingly good at. The monotonous motion of scrubbing back and forth and back forth on the floor was almost comforting. He forgot how much time had gone by by the time that he had finished cleaning the nursery.

It was crystal clean though, and the dragons seemed to enjoy it too. Next he went back out to the shop, expecting to see Rey outside with some customers but there was no one there. In fact it was dark outside. He could hear her talking to someone outside. That was fine. 

He needed to clean the shop anyways.

Kylo worked at it tirelessly, making sure that there was no spec of dust left in the place, his bucket of soapy water finally empty. By the time everything was dried off, Rey had come back in, her eyes widened at the sight of the shop. “Is it okay?” He asked, “I tried to put everything back in its place.”

“It’s perfect,” She said. “ _I never would’ve pegged you as the type who would be so good at cleaning.”_

“I try to do whatever I have to my fullest ability.” He said.

“Thank you, you did a good job.” She reached out for him, grabbing his hand. “You must be absolutely starving. Come with me, I have a place I wanna show you.” 

The two of them ran through the back of Rey’s house-tree-Kylo didn’t know what to call it yet. They went up and up and Kylo felt like her was running forever with her. He really needed to work out again. By the time the two of them reached the place that Rey wanted to show them, Kylo was starving and two times as hungry as he had been before. 

Rey opened the door to the place she wanted to show him, and Kylo walked out into a field with grass that was tinged a luminescent blue. The sky seemed to go on forever, stars and constellations in the night sky. They were so bright, it was mesmerising to look at. “But… we’re still inside…” 

“Are we?” Rey giggled. 

“I don’t know, you’re the one who lives inside of a magical tree, you tell me.” 

“This is what I like to call the Observatory, and I’ve never actually shown anyone this place before, but I thought that maybe you may have an appreciation for it.” Just a little bit ahead of them, there was a rather fluffy looking blanket with a basket and a cornucopia on it. The two of them sat and Rey took out a large bowl of berries and other fruits that she had already cut up. Then some bread, several different jams, and several different cuts of salted and dry meat. “I’ll leave the pastries for last.” She said. “Let me fix you a plate real quick.” 

“You don’t have to-” She was already fixing it, when she set down the plate in front of him, Kylo thanked her. He wondered how she’d managed to pick all his favorite fruits and meats, and even the right jam, but reckoned it was probably relating to some sort of magic.  _ God, her food was amazing. Everything about this place was too good to be true.  _ “It’s beautiful up here,” He said between bites. 

“Thank you,” She said. The light from the moon and the light from the grass was glowing around her, making her look …  _ beautiful.  _ Kylo shook his head and focused on his food. “It just appeared here one day, and I like to come here when I’m sad.” 

“You’re not sad now -?” 

“No, no, just tired. This place always makes me feel better you know? It’s just so beautiful.”  She peeled a persimmon and popped a piece in her mouth as she looked up at the sky. She pointed up. “Look,” Kylo did. Something in the sky was shifting, making the stars just a bit as it darted back and forth. 

“What’s that?”

“ _ Draconis lunae,”  _ Rey said. “Moon dragon.. I just call her Luna. She only comes down once every four years, but when she does, it’s not good news.” 

“Why?” 

“Moon dragons only come down when a dragon keeper is about to die.” That was ominous. 

“Oh,” 

“Sorry,” She said, “some things are better left unsaid.” She looked embarrassed, looking down at her meal. They finished eating in silence. “Do you want another story?” Rey asked when they were done. Kylo honestly couldn’t think of anything better. He nodded. “Okay,” She set out the pastries and put the remnants of their meal in the basket. The both of them laid back, “There was a boy who lived in a village, tucked away behind every intersecting river, every merchant’s road of trade. The town was impoverished  and poor, and no family could ever support themselves enough to have all three meals during the day.” Kylo watched the stars dance about them, and was surprised when they swirled, and morphed. He could see that boy in the sky. “But the boy was happy, because he could live in his mind. Even with his older sister being ill and his mother being over bearing, when he went into the woods to gather kindling from the fire and check the traps, he would stay there and pretend that he was a ruler who was generous to his people, and everyone was happy.” She took a breath in, and then kept talking. “That did not last forever though. In that winter, his mother and sister passed, and he was left alone, with nothing but the cold. It was the first time he had faced reality. So the boy set out, there was nothing left for him at the village anymore, and his imagination was replaced with something far worse…  _ anger…”  _ Fire flickered from behind the boy as he walked away from the village. “He could no longer go back to his village and he now wanted to escape his mind, so he became a bandit. Stealing things from rich and giving them to the poor. His mind still angry, his heart still sad.” 

“Is that it-” 

“Let me finish,” She said. “One day, he was passing through the woods with some new loot when he passed by a girl. She was his age, scrawny and covered in soot, she looked like she’d crawled through a fire place.”  _ And the two fell in love,  _ Kylo guessed. “She asked him for food, and he gave some to her willingly. She asked for him to accompany her on a walk, so he did. And the two of them talked. Somehow, this girl was able to get the boy to tell her everything. Every story of anger and bitterness that was in his heart was now poured out to a stranger. She didn’t judge, she didn’t say a thing as they talked. When he was done, he realised he felt empty inside. He had no more use for her. So, after he was done telling her the story, he killed her.” 

“What? Why?” 

“It was a sudden moment of compassion, of him realising that his story was not to be shared. The boy was irrational. He kept walking along the woods, trying not to think about the horrible act that he had just done, but most of all trying to forget one terrible thing. His past. Ahead in the road, he met a girl. The same girl. She said, “That knife hurt, you know?” 

He was horrified. He was sure he had just killed the girl. “Who are you?” The boy asked. 

“I am the Past, I am the Future, I am Fate.” She said. 

“You cannot be all three things,” The boy insisted. She chuckled and shook her head, the two of them began to walk again. This time the boy did not try to kill her.” The stars changed again, showing a ghostly looking girl beside him. “She said, “I am all three of those things, those things are your worst fears, are they not?” He didn’t know what to say, but he knew there was no point in lying to the girl, so he nodded and she said, “I could tell, you killed me when you told me your past. It was pretty easy to figure out after that.” 

“Why are you here?” He asked. “Have you come to haunt me?” 

“No.” She said, “That would be cruel of me, now wouldn’t it? Despite what people may think I am not cruel, I am merely here. I have come to help you, so the future is not cruel. In order for that to happen, you must reconcile with your past, with your faults.” 

“My faults? What do you know of my faults?” 

“All of them,” the girl said, “And if you really want to heal I can help you.” So the girl helped him, and he left the wood, he was no longer empty, but no longer filled with anger. He could not go back to leading a normal life, but he went back to where his village lay in ruins, and began to rebuild it. No one who lives there now ever saw him, they all say he died before the first people came back to the village. But it is now a thriving place, the buildings full of the imagination and heart that the boy had when he was young, and where tragedy is not known to kids as it was known to him, and that is the most important part.” The story was finished there. 

Kylo felt like he was going to have a heart attack. Something panged at his chest and his head had a headache. Maybe it was his conscious telling him how awful he was for lying. “That was sad,” 

“You think?” She asked. “Obi Wan told me that story a long time ago… I always thought that it was rather beautiful, if not bittersweet to say the least. You see, it’s really about redemption in the end. You have to reconcile your past in order to move on to a healthier future. In this case, the healthier future was him rebuilding the place where he lived. He got back his imagination and died in peace, no longer a criminal and no longer running from his past sins.” 

“You really think that people can redeem themselves?” 

“I think if anyone wants to, they can. No one is perfect,” Her eyes were transfixed on the stars, but Kylo was staring at her. 

“You have too much faith in people,” Kylo said. 

“Do I? Well I’m afraid I haven’t met a lot of them so I wouldn’t know. I guess it’s just one of my faults.” 

“No, stay that way. It’s...refreshing.” 

“Glad to hear that, now go to bed, Kylo. I’ll see you in the morning.”  

Later that night, the same thing happened. Kylo had another nightmare, but soon, Rey was right by his side. She gave him the same liquid, and waited silently until he was done. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked. 

“No,” He said, “Do you have another story?” 

“So many stories,” She said, “You’re going to run me dry.” 

“It’s fine if you don’t.” 

“No, I do.” She giggled. “Have you ever heard of the  _ veritatis lumen? _ ” 

“No,” 

“Well they’re these weird creatures, some say they’re gifts from the bottom of the sea. If you ever see one and they come up to the surface and they think you’re worthy. They bestow prophetic dreams or other magical powers upon you.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yes, but you seldom see them. Their scales are worth millions if you harvest them, but harvesting just one means that the  _ veritatis lumen  _ would lose all of its power and become defenseless, dying shortly afterwards. I keep the last eight in the world here, on my property.” 

“Would you show them to me?” 

“Not just yet,” She said, “I do trust you, Kylo, but not enough to show them to you. They’re very sacred. Don’t be offended though, because I’m the only one who knows where they live.” 

“It’s all good,” he says. She looked relieved that he understood.

“Anyways, the first time I met this creature, BB and I were running from a band of dragon hunters. I was about ten. We stole one of their boats and had been stuck in the middle of the ocean for days. BB was hungry, but when she caught fish she would roast them and only give them to me to eat. I thought I was going to die of thirst when I saw it, glowing underneath the surface. It came to our side and nudged the boat, moving it. It took forever, but we reached the shore and it was raining. I collected the rainwater and drank it, gave the creature my last fish as a way to say thank you, and in return it let me see things in the future. Let me be able to see when and where creatures were when they were being hurt. It helped me save them. It still does.” Kylo smiled. 

“You're life is…”

“Lonely-”

“Amazing,” 

“Huh, I guess it could be that too.” She blushed, handing Kylo another blanket. “It's going to get colder later tonight. Stay warm.” And with that, she left.


	5. The Wood

 

 

 

Kylo woke up to the sound of panic, Rey was screaming frantically somewhere. Instinctively he made his way out of his room, completely disregarding his wooden hand, and looked for the sound of the noise. "Rey?" He called. She made her way out into the hallway, sweaty and slightly delirious. 

 

"We need to go," She said. 

 

"What?"

 

"Dragon hunters in the woods, danger." She didn't have to explain anything more than that. Kylo's stomach dropped and he went back to his room to start packing his things. 

 

 

 

Rey worked proactively when she was nervous, Kylo couldn't find her in the house, but when he went out to the shop entrance, he saw her packing up four different dragons with fairly scary looking teeth. 

 

She was getting ready for a fight, but she looked like she was making herself sick.  

 

"Hey," he caught her as she stumbled, planting her feet back upright. "Calm down okay? Everything is going to be fine. Just tell me how I can help." He tried to stay as calm as possible, but one thought couldn't escape his head. What if one of the dragon hunters she was talking about was someone he knew? What if Rey found out? 

 

"I had a dream… There are some dragons off in the woods, and dragon hunters too. Starting their hunt tomorrow. They're just about a days away." She turned her attention to someone else. A fae and someone else. "I need you two to protect this place," She said. Kylo would ask who the hell they were, because he'd never seen them before, but decided not to. Neither of them bothered introducing themselves to him either.

 

They nodded, and then the both of them disappeared. Kylo considered asking her who they were, but decided there were more important things at hand. “You ready?” 

 

“Yes,” 

 

* * *

Rey and Kylo arrived at the clearing she’d seen the dragons in at night time. She’d sent two dragons into the woods, patrolling the border of her property, making sure that no hunter had the audacity to wander on to her property. Rey’d gathered kindling for the both of them and _Jyn_ set it on fire, setting a nice fire for the both of them. Despite the warmth, Rey was shivering. Kylo noticed, untying the black fur he wore and trying to drape it around Rey the best he could with one arm. “You don’t have to do that,” She said, she was about to take it off to give it back to him, but he dismissed it and sat down next to her. The two of them stared at the fire for awhile before Rey said, “Oh!” 

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I forgot! I packed food!” Kylo got up and headed to the satchel that was still fastened on to _Jyn’s_ sleeping body. Luckily she’d had the foresight to pack things that were easy to fetch, and he came back with a bag with packed meats, some spit roasts to cook said meats, and in a separate pocket, a persimmon turnover for Kylo. Rey helped him cook the meat, each taking their perspective portions before setting out the raw scraps for Jyn to eat when she woke up. Kylo always ate neatly and quick, while Rey liked to savor her food more. It was still funny to watch such a grumpy man try and be as polite as possible when they didn’t even have utensils. “That was good,” He said. 

 

“Are you full-?” 

 

“Huh? Why?” 

 

“Look in the bag.” She liked seeing him smile, it took her names off of her worries for just a moment. He smiled sweetly when he saw the turnover she’d baked for him. She waited as he tentatively took a bite out of it, his eyes melting. 

 

“Oh my god,” 

 

“Do you like it?” 

 

He nodded as he silently ate, this time forgetting a little about politeness and devouring the thing whole. Rey laughed. “That was heavenly,” He said, “Oh my god, that was so good. What did I do to deserve that?” 

 

“You were here,” She said. “You’ve been a great friend to me,” 

 

Kylo blushed, looking down at the ground. “You’ve been a great friend to me, and like I said, I don’t know what I did to deserve that.” The both of them were tired, and a bit emotional. It was a bit laughable. “Just… thank you.” He got up, but Rey didn’t want him to. “Sleep,” He told her. “I’ll keep watch.” 

 

 

She was about to protest, but Kylo wouldn’t hear any of it. 

 

She was tired anyways, and tomorrow would be a long day. “Fine,” She muttered to herself. The morning was frantic, as Rey had imagined it being. The hunt was near, Kylo woke her up, pointing out the smoke pillars in the sky that told them just how far away they were. Only a couple miles, to be exact. Rey could feel the hearts of her creatures beating harder, sensing the fact that there was danger near by, she could feel the hearts of everything in the woods, quaking in fear, and it was hard for her not to do the same. She swallowed and swallowed hard, thinking of what she saw in her dream the night before. Rey needed a plan, and she needed one quick. 

 

“Jyn,” The dragon met her side in seconds. 

 

“Cass,” she called. The other dragon came slinking from the woods, smoke billowing from it’s nostrils. “Kylo, I’m going to go ahead with Jyn, lure them away, and I need you and Cass to go into the woods, left. Walk until you find the river, there you will find frightened young creatures. You will need to lead them across the river and to safety. Do you got that?” 

 

“Wait, I’m not leaving you.” 

 

“I’ll be fine,” Her voice was rather grim, it had been such a long time since she felt such anger in her, that was probably the last time the dragon hunters had come to visit. “Just go,” Kylo obeyed her, and as she got on Jyn, she imagined the smell of things burning, she imagined all the things she was about to burn. 

 

She wouldn’t regret it until later, she knew that much, but at the moment that didn’t matter. The things she had seen yesterday had shaken her. A mother dragon dead, her kids dying of poison, wreckage of the dragon’s home caves and enslaving whatever creatures left. Only true deplorable monsters would do such a thing, and in order to keep them from doing such a thing, they had to go. 


End file.
